Rory Burns leading Surrey and England to glory

Not only has Rory Burns now overseen six championship victories as Surrey skipper, he has also notched up his first as an England captain – well, of sorts – following the England Lions’ 253-run win over India A at Worcester last week.

But it is as the man pulling the strings for Surrey that the 27-year-old is demanding attention following his side’s annihilation of Notts, who went into last weekend’s County Championship clash at Trent Bridge as the Oval outfit’s nearest challengers.

The South London club won by an innings and 183 runs at Trent Bridge and that moved them 43 points clear at the top of Division One. Burns said: “We were delighted to have beaten a very good side inside three days.

“It’s always tough when you put a side in, as we did on the first morning, because it puts expectation on the bowlers.

“Morne Morkel was excellent in both innings. He’ll take the plaudits, but the way they all went about it as a group, to bowl Notts out twice for around 200 shows how we are going about our business.

“It’s obviously very pleasing the way we are winning matches at the moment.

The bowling and batting group are doing what’s needed and that makes my job a lot easier when that is happening.

“We just need to keep doing the processes well and keep true to what we’ve done well so far.”

Looking back on his England Lions’ experience, Burns said: “That was a very pleasing performance. India A are a good side, and we had a pretty comprehensive victory.

“It was set up on day one by Alastair Cook, backed up by Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan. The rest of the four days, all the bowlers stuck in. Sam Curran was superb, as always, in the first innings. It was bizarre captaining a team with all that experience. On the training day, when it got announced to the group, Cooky was the first one to pipe up about me making my debut as captain.

“It’s the first time I’ve shared a dressing room with him. I’ve watched his bat hurt us a few times. But it’s been really interesting with Cooky and a few of the other guys, to see the other side of people having played against them quite a lot.

“I’ve definitely noticed more people are talking about me. It’s also helped captaining Surrey and sitting where we are in the league at the minute. When your name is thrown in with that, as well as putting up some numbers, it helps with that push.

“I haven’t tried to bury my head in the sand. I do see my name thrown about a bit more. It’s almost silly to ignore that kind of stuff. You have to accept what it is.

“It’s my first Lions experience and it was really enjoyable – 100 per cent I want more. It’s up to me to continue going places with Surrey and to keep churning out the runs.”